Guilt, Glitch, and Tears
by Barry Bubblestein
Summary: Taffyta hasn't been sleeping well lately due feeling guilty of her past with Vanellope. When she has a breakdown while hanging out with her friends, how will Vanellope react?


The sounds of giggling filled the inner castle walls during the otherwise quiet, still night in Sugar Rush. It had been a long day of constant quarter alerts and races. Most of the racers just wanted to unwind; and the girls of the candy themed go kart game were currently doing this in the comfort of Vanellope's castle.

Ever since she had returned to her place of power as ruler of the land, Vanellope had been taking every moment she could to become close with her subjects/friends. Things had started out sort of awkward and difficult for her, as everyone else was as nervous of approaching her as she was them. Who could blame them though? With what they had done to Vanellope, most early interactions with her usually started with an apology and how badly they felt.

Then Vanellope got the idea of a sleepover. What better way to bond with her friends (well at least the girls anyway) then to have them stay over at her new castle to see that she wasn't just their new ruler, but could also be a fun person. In short, it worked, and the girls decided to make it a weekly thing. That's what had been happening that night at the castle.

It had been a fantastic night for the eight, female Rushers so far. They had eaten junk food, played truth or dare, and just finished doing each other's nails. Now that things were starting to wind down, the group was sitting in their sleeping bags near Vanellope's big bed, laughing and gossiping about boys and what not. "Wait, so Swizzle ended up ripping his pants on a branch during your third date?!" Vanellope asked her green haired friend Minty Zaki, trying to talk between laughing at her story.

Minty nodded, giggling as well. "Yep, but his heart boxers were cute." She finished, blushing slightly about her boyfriend.

She felt a light shove from Jubileena, who was chucking. "You think everything about Swizzle is cute, Mints." The cherry racer joked with her.

The blush on Minty's cheeks grew even brighter all of a sudden. She couldn't help it if she had a cute daredevil for a boyfriend. "Vanellope's going through the same thing with Rancis!" The mint themed girl pointed an accusing finger at their president.

Now it was Vanellope's turn to blush and suddenly find her shoes interesting; except her blush was more visible on her lighter toned skin. "Aw, c'mon, don't deny it, Vanellope." Snowanna poked fun at her as well. "I see you goin' all googly eyed with love whenever he waves at you, girl." The snow cone racer said. This caused Vanellope to go completely red and glitch up a little. Everyone was laughing now, including the president, at the stories they shared.

Adorabeezle let out a yawn after the laughs had died down. "I'm getting tired." She told the others, stretching her arms out before flopping back on Vanellope's bed. "Anyone got any more ideas?"

The other girls exchanged a few looks of uncertainty and drowsiness. From what they could read from one another, no one was coming up with anything besides sleeping. "I think Beez has the right idea. Anyone else say we call it a night?" Taffyta asked, getting up from her sleeping bag and grabbing her tooth brush. A few half-hearted murmurs of agreement were heard among the girls, confirming that they were more than ready to turn in.

The platinum blonde got up and entered the washroom, closing the door behind her. This gave the other girls the time to start getting up from their gossip circle and grabbing their bed time needs. "Is it just me, or does that girl wear too much make up?" Minty suddenly asked the others, getting her toothbrush out of her bag.

"What do you mean by too much make up?" Candlehead asked, confused by the question about her best friend. She hung out with Taffyta almost all the time and knew she wore make up, but never did she stop to take a look at how much was usually covering her face.

"No, I see it too. I think she overdoes it on the eye liner." Crumbelina spoke up, letting her cinnamon hair out of its two buns. "I just didn't want to be rude and make it sound like I was judging her. I mean, who's she trying to impress?" She asked out loud.

Despite showing she felt bad for how she treated Vanellope, everyone knew Taffyta had a tendency to be arrogant and considered herself the cream of the crop when it came to racing. The others guessed she was probably just trying to stand out and show her status as the queen bee of her friends. "Probably just insecure that she won't be as popular now that we have Vanellope racing with us." Jubileena added in a half sarcastic, tired voice.

Something about these comments made Vanellope annoyed with her friends. This was exactly the kind of judgment that the others shared when she was a glitch; the kind that got other people bullied. The now president was just about to order them to shut up when Taffyta came out of the washroom, half asleep and heading for the sleeping bag next to Vanellope's. She decided to let it go for the evening and crawled into her sleeping bag as well.

"You're not sleeping in your bed, Vanellope?" Candlehead cocked her head curiously. You think since she had slept in garbage for 15 years, Vanellope would have jumped right at the chance to sleep in her giant, cozy bed anytime.

However, the president shook her head, fluffing her pillow to lie on. "Nah, the blankets tangle me up sometimes. Plus, this sleeping bag is super soft, kinda like my old sponge cake bed." Vanellope finished her sentence before resting her head down to go to sleep. No one noticed Taffyta look down and roll over at the mention of the former glitch's past life. She still felt guilty despite Vanellope claiming it wasn't her fault, but there was nothing wrong with feeling guilty. Right? This is the last thing that crossed Taffyta's mind as she drifted off with the others.

* * *

The interior of the castle was dead silent in the middle of the night with only the occasional footsteps of the night patrol guards very faintly filling the castle. Most of the girls were sleeping soundly in their bags, dreaming happy dreams of racing and having fun with their friends. Jubileena snuggled into her sleeping bag and dreamed of eating cherry pie; her favorite. Adorabeezle snored lightly as her mind was filled with thoughts of winning the next roster race and getting chosen. Candlehead sucked her thumb while cuddling the candy wrapper blanket she'd brought with her. Even thought she was at the age where a girl usually doesn't do that, the racers often considered the candle-headed ditz to be the little sister of their group. However, there was one racer who was not having a good sleep. A certain strawberry racer was currently in the middle of tossing and turning in her sleeping bag.

* * *

Taffyta awakened from the night's sleep and started to sit up, but something felt different. Her soft, cozy sleeping bag was no longer comforting her. Feeling a hard, cold surface beneath her, Taffyta looked down to see a wafer platform supported by two chocolate chains; sort of like a prison bed. "This isn't Vanellope's room. Where am I?" The young racer wondered as she started to gain a bit more consciousness.

Reaching to rub her eyes to get to the meaning of this gave her another shock. Something was restricting her movement greatly. The platinum blonde held up her wrists to see that they were cuffed in a pair of chocolate shackles complete with chain linking her wrist closely together. It didn't help and only aided her confusion when Taffyta figured out that her ankles were decked out in a matching, and equally binding, pair of restraints.

Now extremely confused, and getting a bit scarred, Taffyta was about to cry out for help when she heard the sound of a large door slowly open. After turning the best she could and adjusting her eyes to the sudden burst of light, she recognized one of the castle's oreo guards approach her. "It's time, Taffyta, come along." He said in a stern voice. Guards, chains, cuffs? Taffyta was finally starting to make sense of the situation; she was in the castle Fungeon.

"W-What's going on? Where am I?" Taffyta stammered, now completely lost. If this was some kind of giant prank, it wasn't funny.

"Just as the princess told the others; your just desserts." The guard answered, grabbing a long spear and marching towards the frightened racer. "Now UP!" He shouted in a commanding while using his spear to yank Taffyta's wrist chains, causing the girl to stumble off the bench.

Taffyta felt like her mind was going 1000 miles an hour as she clumsily tried to follow the oreo leading her out of the Fungeon by her bonds. It was difficult to keep up with him since her ankles were cuffed together. "What are you talking about?! We didn't do anything wrong!"

"Didn't do anything wrong?! That's rich, kid." The guard laughed as he tugged Taffyta's wrist shackles harshly whenever she fell too far back to his liking, which was 80% of the time. "The princess told us to wait until dark to move you all to the Fungeon to make gathering you easier." He explained, leading her down one of the candy coated castle walls.

"No, it's not true! And what do you mean princess? She changed it to president." Taffyta stated, trying to reason with her captor. The oreo guard just rolled his eyes at what he assumed was one of the prisoner's excuses and gave her an extra hard pull forward. This caused the blonde to fall flat on her face with a grunt of pain. Before Taffyta could even think of recovering, the guard kept leading her through the castle by her wrist, dragging her along the royal carpet.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever to Taffyta, they reached an entry way leading outside. The oreo pulled his prisoner past the entrance and out into the castle court yard. The sight of dark, grey, gloomy storm clouds greeted the pair as Taffyta was pulled to her feet forcefully. "On your feet! We're here. I'm sure the princess will enjoy taking your head." The guard told the blonde as he led her forward. When Taffyta had regained her senses, she realized she was standing behind her best friend, Candles, in the same set of shackles .as the former. The ditz didn't turn around to greet her like she usually did, but instead, sadly kept her gaze down and stayed quiet.

It wasn't until Taffyta looked forward that she realized why Candles wasn't speaking to her. Just in front of the green haired girl was a red and pink striped block on the ground. The block, however, wasn't what caught Taffyta's attention. Resting in it appeared to be a large axe with a candy cane handle. In addition, there was crimson streaks of blood pouring down the sides of the block, like it had just been used.

Taffyta's eyes widened in horror, piecing together that Candlehead had fallen silent in fear, probably from just having watched someone fall victim to the block. This was an execution, and they were next. The platinum blonde still didn't have a full grasp on what was happening, but she knew one thing; she was petrified. "N-NO! VANELLOPE FORGAVE US! SH-SHE CAN'T KILL US!" The pink racer screamed, turning to the guard in desperation.

"Tell that to the executioner!" He boomed back at her, shoving Taffyta forward, making the stumble to the ground again.

Suddenly, a soft, eerily sweet, female voice spoke up. "Next up, Candlehead, please." it said gently. The two girls immediately recognized that voice as Vanellope's, taking the same tone she had with them the day everything got turned right. Taffyta struggled to her knees to see the fear stricken Candlehead being led forward by the oreo guard towards the block. Next to it, Vanellope half emerged into Taffyta's view. She was wearing her princess dress, but for some reason, the strawberry girl could only see the bottom, frilly half of the outfit. Vanellope's top half of her body and face were mysteriously covered in shadows.

"Vanellope, we said sorry! Please don't do this!" Candlehead whimpered as she was being pulled forward to her death.

Vanellope just shook her head at this. "I don't care! You all tortured me for 15 YEARS!" She barked at the green haired ditz. "Oh, and by the way…"She continued, leaning towards Candlehead just enough to blow her candle out.

This caused the candle headed girl to break out crying that her sacred relic of a candle had been extinguished. "You are not a very nice princess!" She yelled, pointing a finger at her the best she could.

"I'm having you executed, ditz, g'doi! The princess joked a bit, enjoying the crying racer's misery. "Now then, Executioner, if you would." Vanellope ordered her assistant, returning to her sweet voice she had used before.

Taffyta looked over to see the figure of Sergeant Calhoun step forward and pull the blood stained axe from the block. The blonde prisoner recognized her as one of the people with Vanellope when their memories where first restored. "She probably volunteered to kill us for Vanellope." Taffyta thought, watching the sergeant give her best friend a hard kick, bringing Candlehead to her knees. Calhoun then proceeded to use her boot to slam her head onto the block and hold it in place. Only being able to watch as the axe was swung back, the last thing the ditz could hear her best friend scream was her name, "CANDLEHEAD!"

There was a split second scream of pain, and then silence as the headless body of the birthday racer fell lifelessly to the stained floor. Despite being on her knees already, a horrified Taffyta fell even lower and started sobbing in the dirt. The mascara she always wore streaked down her cheeks and through her white gloves. This was all too much for Taffyta to take in; this was it.

"Bravo, Sergeant." Vanellope cooed, clapping her hands, still partially hidden in the shadows and out of Taffyta's view. "And last, as well as my personal favorite, Taffyta." The princess called to the crying girl a few feet from her. As soon as Taffyta gained enough senses to figure out she was next, she immediately started crawling backwards. Unfortunately for her, this attempt was halted by the guard harshly yanking the pink racer to her feet and forward.

"Why are y-you do-ing this? You s-s-said you fo-for-gave us!" Taffyta choked out as she was marched forward forcefully.

Vanellope gave out an eerily calm chuckle as she watched Taffyta get pulled forward. "ME forgive all of YOU after what happened? I'm going to enjoy this, Taffy." The princess spoke. As she was finally dragged in front of the block, Taffyta was greeted by a horrifying sight. The headless, lifeless bodies of her friends lay in a colossal pile before the blood stained block. Rancis, Minty, Adorabeezle, and the freshly fallen torso of Candlehead were just a few of the victims the pink blonde stared in terror at, realizing she was about to join them.

"See what you're actions have done, Taffyta? All because you didn't stop listening to that snake Turbo and stop bullying me. They're gone forever and it's all YOUR fault." Vanellope hissed at Taffyta. The words hit her like a group of sweet seekers, especially the part about it being all her fault. As the cries of the former glitch's begs for mercy and sobs of pain and misery echoed through Taffya's head, she realized everything that was happening right now was indeed all caused by her.

Looking like she was pretty much ready to give in and accept her fate, Calhoun assisted the petrified prisoner by kicking her to her knees the same way she did to Candles. When she grabbed a clump of the kneeling girl's hair and slammed her head down. The pink strawberry hat Taffyta always wore fell off and rolled over to Vanellope's feet. "Any last words?" the princess smirked from the shadows, very amused by the torment that her former bully was going through.

The sergeant positioned her boot on the racer's head and steadied her axe at the neck line."V-Vanellope…H-how could y-you?" Taffyta quietly asked, her clean hair soaking in the fresh blood from Candlehead beheading.

Finally stepping out of the shadows, Vanellope revealed herself and spoke in her soft Snow White tone, her eyes closed as she did so. "Like I said; as your merciful princess, I hereby decree, that everyone who was ever mean to me shall be….executed." She spoke the final word of her explanation in a deep, demonic tone and opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing red. This, accompanied by the equally sinister laughter of revenge, was the last thing Taffyta saw as she let out a scream of terror once she realized Calhoun had started to swing the axe down.

* * *

"NOOOOOOOO!" the screams of Taffyta broke the dead quietness of night as she shot up, kicking and thrashing violently at her sleeping bag. The rest of the girls jolted up at the sudden commotion or groggily sat up and rubbed their eyes, looking around in confusion. Coming to their senses, they noticed the sight of Taffyta on the verge of a breakdown. The poor girl's eyes were wide and blood shot, trying to hold back tears as her hands clutched her hair in fear while she hyperventilated rapidly.

The young racers exchanged worried looks as they saw the condition their friend was in. "What's wrong?" Adorabeezle asked her, getting out of her sleeping bag.

"Taffyta, did something happen?!" Vanellope glitched over to the frightened girl and placed a hand on her for comfort. As soon as the hand touched Taffyta though, she let out another scream of terror and scurried backwards, away from the president. Vanellope recoiled back a bit at this and stared in shock at the sight of her scared friend, who only stopped crawling when her back it a wall and was now shaking in fear.

Candlehead approached Vanellope, obviously concerned about her best friend's condition. "What's Taffy yelling about?" The ditz asked her leader in a worried tone.

Vanellope frowned as she started to piece together what was going on. "I think I know what's upsetting her." She said quietly and slowly started to approach Taffyta. The blonde, while not nearly as much, was still shaking a bit as she eyes were glued on the raven girl approaching her. The former princess knelt down calmly next to the fetal positioned racer. "Taffyta, are you going to be okay?" Vanellope asked in a soft, gentle tone.

Taffyta, now starting to come back down from her state of panic and gain control of her breathing, looked at everyone, especially Vanellope staring at her. After becoming aware of her surroundings, she answered with a sniffled, "N-No…." before collapsing in a sobbing heap.

The president didn't hesitate to pull the crying girl into a soft hug, letting her cry into her. "It's going to be okay; I won't hurt you. Now, can you tell me what's wrong?" She asked Taffyta, holding her to help her calm down.

Taffyta lifted her head to face Vanellope, her tears clear as day streaking down her face. "I-I had a dr-dream where y-you de-cided to ex-ecute us. You s-s-said it w-was all my fa-fault that it was happening." The blonde sniffled out.

"Taffy, I would never do that; ever. Everyone has bad dreams once in a while, but they're not real." She reassured Taffyta and began rubbing her back slowly to stop her weeping.

Finally calming down enough to talk more clearly, Taffyta looked up at her leader. "I know, I've gotten used to it." She replied back, wiping her eyes with her night gown. When Vanellope gave her a confused look, she elaborated. "Ever since the game reset, every three or four nights is like this; Go to bed, wake up screaming, and lay awake in fear of falling asleep and having it happen again." The pink girl confessed out loud.

A shocked look appeared on Vanellope's face. Neither she nor any of the racers had any idea she had been suffering so much. On the outside, she seemed as happy as happy could be, racing and hanging out with her friends. However, on the inside, she was a mentally and emotionally tortured victim fighting off so much pain. "Why didn't you tell me sooner, I could have helped you!?"

Looking down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone all of a sudden, Taffyta tensed up a bit. "I was afraid to tell you or anyone because you'd all just laugh or call me a cry baby. I'm scared to talk to you because you now have the power to do stuff like make my life miserable. It's why I wear so much make up; to hide the bags under my eyes that would give it away. After all...it's what I deserve." Her voice trailed off, saying the last part in a more hushed voice.

Vanellope's eyes widened when she heard Taffyta's confession. "Y-You're…scared of me?" She asked with the strawberry themed girl nodding silently and lowering her head, waiting for everyone to say their worst to her. All of the racers, Taffyta's friends, especially Vanellope, could see the large amounts of guilt Taffyta had been carrying since the big reset. "Listen to me; no one deserves what you're going through. I would have helped you, we all would have. None of the others are completely innocent either; it's not all your fault." Vanellope put her hands on Taffyta's shoulders, getting her attention.

The other racers watched the scene unfold, concerned for their friend. Even if she could be a little bratty and arrogant at times, she was still one of them. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about her bullying you anymore, eh, Nelly?" Minty smirked, nudging the president with her elbow in an attempt at humor. All she got, however, was an angry glare from Vanellope telling her "Not funny". Minty's face fell when she realized it was a bit too soon and went quiet. The others glanced at each other and decided it was best to give the two some along time and left the bed room.

Once in privacy, Vanellope returned her attention to Taffyta, her face softening again. After a brief silence between the two, Taffyta lifted her head from Vanellope and look up at her. "Vanellope, what I did to you back when…you know, does it still hurt?" she asked quietly, questioning her former victim about the past.

"Look, Taffy-" Vanellope was about to object to the question.

But Taffyta shook her head and shut her eyes. "Please! I need to know! Tell me the truth; does it still hurt?!" She wanted to know how much pain she had caused the poor raven haired girl.

As much as she knew Taffyta would feeling worst upon hearing it, the past still did hurt to remember sometimes, and still effected Vanellope to this day. Between having her homemade kart she worked so hard on get destroyed, to getting insulted as she walked by, to being pushed into mud or taffy, the former bully had made it her daily goal to make the teal girl as miserable as possible. "Yes, it does sometimes." Vanellope finally sighed after a moment of pausing. Taffyta's face scrunched up like she was about to start crying all over again and turned away, unable to look her leader in the eye anymore. "BUT, I try to remember that I'm not an outcast anymore and that I have friends." She reassured her friend, lightly holding her chin to turn her head.

Taffyta still looked down, despite the reassurance, she still felt like she didn't deserve to be in Vanellope's presence, never mind earning her forgiveness. "Can you do me a favor then?" she shamefully spoke.

The face of the president brightened up almost instantaneously. "Of course, Taff! I'll do anything to help you with what you're going through." She was finally getting somewhere with helping her conquer her guilt. However, that happy feeling soon disappeared again when she heard Taffyta's question.

"Will you do what Turbo did to you? Will you turn me into a glitch and lock everyone's memories up?"

Vanellope's face fell fast from her cheerful smile to a shocked frown. Speechless by the request, she realized Taffyta would have probably asked for a chance to let Vanellope get payback of some sorts, but she didn't think she would ask something so extreme. The former princess may be a little cheeky at times, she had promised herself, and her friends, that she would never go as low as Turbo for any reason. "No, Taffy, I couldn't. I'm not like him and would never do that to you." She shook her head.

Hearing this, the platinum blonde started to sniffle loudly, feeling the tears pour out of her eyes, knowing she could never undo the damage she did. "I'm s-so so-sorry I bu-llied you. When you s-showed us y-y-your home, I felt like su-ch a b-b-ad g-girl for driving you to sl-eep in our t-rashy wrappers…" Taffyta cried, burying her face in Vanellope's PJs.

"Taff, c'mon, look at me." Vanellope lifted the depressed racer's chin, meeting her face to face. Upon looking up, Taffyta saw tears forming in Vanellope's eyes too. "I don't want my new life to be like this. I'm not going to live through another life of being an outcast because people are scared of me. I want us to all be friends, and friends help each other. Yes, our past together isn't the most glamorous thing, but you weren't the one who completely ruined my life because you wanted to hog the spot light. I'm giving you another chance and judging you based on your present actions, not your past ones. Just let the past be behind us, okay?" By the time she had finished talking, the president had tears flowing down her cheeks too.

After a brief moment of staring up into the former glitch's sad face, Taffyta nodding her head quietly. "Now please, stop crying, Taffyta." Vanellope pulled her friend into one last hug, rubbing her back and rocking the teary Taffyta, trying to clear her own eyes. Both of them remembered this as the exact conversation they had when the game reset. Vanellope was now comforting the hurt girl who was scared she would do the very thing she joked about.

"I-I'm tr-ying, it w-won't st-stop…it h-hurts so much." Taffyta returned the hug tightly, continuing to sob her heart out to Vanellope, not wanting to leave the comfort of her arms.


End file.
